Illinois

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, has filed legislation that would, for the first time in Illinois, authorize legislative staff to form a union and engage in collective bargaining.

Six months before the next presidential primary elections in Illinois, county clerks and other local election authorities are asking for the public’s help in stopping misinformation campaigns before they get started

Monday marked the return of free at-home COVID-19 tests from the federal government, a move that comes amid an uptick in patients hospitalized with the virus.

Caroline L. Portlock, director of the Workforce Investment Board of Will County, has been elected president of the Illinois Workforce Partnership.

A family was killed at night in their Romeoville home. Cashless bail comes to our Illinois courts. A local youth band seeks community help. Here's a look at the top stories The Herald-News brought to readers this week.

The Oak Brook-based Portillo’s chain has upped the ante on growth, planning to open 920 new locations nationwide in the next 20 years.

The purpose of the new learning center at the Illinois Supreme Court building is to improve civic knowledge, said John Lupton, executive director of the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission.

Health care industry argues it is exempt from biometric privacy liability while the attorney for two nurses suing their employers said that argument would effect "as much as 10% of the Illinois workforce."

The Department of Homeland Security will speed up the processing of work authorizations for asylum seekers and extend Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelan migrants, actions that could help thousands of migrants who have arrived in Illinois in recent months.

All Round Lake Area Unit District 116 schools were shut down Thursday over concerns about a student who was expelled after striking a staff member and attempted to enter district property Wednesday, officials said.

Police have revealed they identified a 31-year-old man as a “credible suspect” in the investigation of the slaying of Romeoville family who may have possibly died during a police pursuit in Oklahoma.

Matt Mitchell, the former Illinois State Police trooper who caused a high-speed, distracted-driving crash that killed sisters Kelli and Jessica Uhl, has asked to delay his Sept. 20 hearing for the reinstatement of his driver’s license.

The Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force has been called to assist Romeoville police in the investigation of the murders of two parents and their two sons in a killing that is considered “not random.”

The abolition of cash bail was included in the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform of 2021 and originally slated to take effect Jan. 1, though court challenges delayed its implementation until Monday.

In courtrooms around the state early this week, judges conducted the first hearings under a new system that determines whether a defendant will be jailed while awaiting trial based on dangerousness and risk of fleeing prosecution, rather than their ability to post bail.